In the process of analyzing a rock formation, cores are often extracted to determine the composition of the rock formation in order to assess the oil or gas reservoir potential of the rock formation. The cores can be, for example, analyzed using a computed tomography (CT) scanner to determine the various layers of sediments present in the core. However, although various layers of sediments can be distinguished using a CT scanner, conventional cores are not oriented. A CT scanner is an imaging device that uses X-rays to produce tomographic images or ‘slices’ or cross sections of a specific area of a material. CT scanners are widely used in the medical field for diagnostics and therapeutic purposes. However, CT scanners can also be used in other fields such as nondestructive material testing or material imaging. The term “oriented” is used herein to define the geographical orientation or compass direction (i.e., East-West, North-South, etc.). Although the position or location and depth where the core is extracted are known, the orientation of the features or layers within the core relative to the compass direction is not known. For example, what can be extracted from the conventional un-oriented core is simply the presence or absence of a channel at a certain depth. However, it is not possible at the present time to determine which compass direction (e.g., east-west, north-south, etc.) the channel is oriented.
At the present time there are no methods or systems to extract the orientation of features or geobodies (e.g., channels) in the sedimentary layers of the rock formation from conventional un-oriented cores. Therefore, it would be highly desirable to provide a method and system for determining an orientation of reservoir geobodies such as channels or other features from un-oriented conventional cores.